1. Field
This invention relates generally to telecommunications, more specifically, to an apparatus combining a web module and a voice module, wherein the web module controls one or more telephones and the voice module bridges between the telephones and telephony services.
2. Related Art
Cordless telephones have become a commodity household item. The convenience and flexibility provided by a telephone handset not physically attached to a telephone jack or an electrical outlet fits well with modern life. In addition, the price of cordless telephones has been declining steadily while the quality has been improving. Nevertheless, cordless telephones are primarily designed for voice communication. Their ability to handle data is extremely limited. The most common data application with current cordless telephones is limited to simple memory-stored speed-dial numbers.
As consumers grow more technologically savvy, they are continuously seeking more sophisticated integration of voice, data and other features to make life more convenient and productive. The trend is apparent in mobile voice services as well as entertainment devices such as MP3 music players and portable video players. Currently cellular telephones are fully capable of supporting voice communication features such as voice tags as well as data applications such as text, picture, and video messaging and Internet browsing. The differences in capabilities between household telephones and cellular telephones represent an interesting contrast of otherwise similar modern conveniences. Therefore there is a need to upgrade the household telephone with data technologies to be in par with other data voice integrated technologies. These upgraded telephones are to be served for their telephony usage as well as their data functionality. Therefore there is a need to provide a platform combining voice functionality and data functionality to serve the upgraded telephones.